


Welcome aboard

by Kakariki



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Post-Network Effect, Spoilers for Network Effect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25276249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kakariki/pseuds/Kakariki
Summary: In which ART’s crew have to decide whether to let Murderbot join them, and emotions make everyone uncomfortable.Takes place after Network Effect; contains spoilers.
Relationships: Murderbot/Asshole Research Transport (Murderbot Diaries)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 133





	Welcome aboard

At least Amena was on the other ship. ART’s crew meeting was bad enough without her asking me how I was feeling.

(I know, I could have just stopped eavesdropping on the meeting, but I really wanted to know if ART’s humans were going to let me join them. I was getting worried that they wouldn’t. The adrenaline levels in my organic parts were above optimal levels and I kept pacing back and forth across the bunkroom I had locked myself in.)

The humans were gathered in the crew lounge area (I’m definitely renaming it “Argument Lounge” on the schematic). They seemed to have forgotten ART could hear every word they said, and my threat assessment module thought there was a 94% probability they never knew I could too.

They had spent the last 34 minutes talking about how heroic and wonderful I was and how that made them feel. And they had agreed that I would make missions safer and they could trust me. (After I was nearly destroyed saving their lives, I guess even the humans weren’t illogical enough to argue about that.) But instead of acting like that settled the question, they were looking around the room unhappily.

ART was tweaking its code for repelling contact attempts from the Targets, but I could tell it was worried too, because it had kept an average of 53% of its attention on the crew. On our private feed, it said, _Why are they hesitating? I don’t understand._

I didn’t either.

Iris looked at the floor and fidgeted with something in her pocket. “It’s just,” she said, and finally looked up at the group, “I just, I don’t want Peri getting hurt.”

Seth took a deep breath. “I know,” he said, “me either.” Everyone else nodded and their faces relaxed in the way that meant they agreed and were glad someone had finally said something.

ART abandoned its code and suddenly 89% of its attention was on me and the crew. _They think you’ll hurt me?_

Between the shock of Iris’s words and the weight of ART’s attention, my performance reliability dropped 1.5% and I dropped into a chair.

“I mean,” Iris said, “Peri’s never been in love before and I really have no idea how SecUnit feels about it.”

Seth nodded. “Me either. It never talks about its feelings.”

Kaede answered, “I think SecUnit’s in love too, though it’d never admit it. Amena told me how shattered it was when it thought Peri was dead.”

Well, this wasn’t awkward at all.

ART’s confusion increased in the feed. _They think we’re in love?_

My organic parts squirmed. Before I could stop myself, I said _Ew_.

ART went silent, and I stared at the wall, trying to work out what to think about this. My humans always want to make everything be about relationships. Maybe ART’s humans were the same. That had to be it. I said as much to ART.

 _Actually_ , ART said tentatively, _my initial analysis suggests they may have a point. It’s kind of like this._ It dropped a video clip into my feed, the scene from episode 145 of _Sanctuary Moon_ when the terraforming supervisor’s second wife’s daughter’s boyfriend made an impassioned declaration of love in the moonlight. (Obviously ART didn’t skip the romantic scenes like I did.)

 _I enjoy your company, I want you to stay here forever, and I feel…_ It paused for an objective 1.2 seconds, which felt like a subjective eternity. _I feel warm and happy when I think about you._

A wave of warmth flowed through my organic parts. Maybe that was what the humans meant by love. I did a quick search through my media files and found five more scenes. Warmth did feature a lot, and so did permanence.

I was having a lot of emotions and they certainly matched those search results. I said, _I … me too. When I think about you._

I stared harder at the wall. This had to be the most awkward conversation I’d ever had. What did humans do at this point? I searched my media files again. Oh right, they kissed each other. That wasn’t much use.

But I needed to be honest with ART. No, I wanted to be honest with ART. All I could think to do was to let my emotions leak onto the feed. And in reply ART did the same, its warmth flowing round me. I sat silently for 52 seconds simply soaking in it.

When I surfaced, I looked at the humans again. They looked relieved, like maybe they had come to an agreement. I replayed the video in a hurry to see what I’d missed.

Okay, Seth had said that if ART and I were his children, he’d tell us it was too soon to move in together. Kaede had argued that ART and I weren’t his children, we were adults and the humans should treat us like adults. (Considering the effort I’d put into gaining autonomy, I strongly agreed with Kaede.) Then Karime suggested they treat us like they would if one of the humans added a new partner. It seemed that hadn’t happened before either, but there was a protocol for it, hence their relief.

Seth said, “So, we’d find out if they had useful skills and if they did, we’d welcome them aboard for a trial mission. We’re agreed that SecUnit has useful skills?”

He looked around the humans and they all nodded. He continued, “and then we’d have an uncomfortable conversation about how they needed to be careful because if their relationship screwed up things on the ship, one of them would have to leave.”

More nods. Seth looked around the room. “Who’d like to have that conversation with Peri and SecUnit?”

No nods. All the humans looked at the walls instead of each other.

ART sighed in our private feed. Then it spoke on the comm. “SecUnit and I have been listening and we understand that.”

Wait, what? As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough, ART had to tell the humans we’d been listening? I was never coming out of this bunkroom. Never.

The humans all jumped and Seth went red. “You’ve been listening to the whole meeting?” He waved his hands around in distress and said, “I’m sorry, Peri, we shouldn’t have talked about your relationship like that.”

ART paused for 5.4 seconds, long enough for the humans to look even more worried. Then it said, “Our analysis of the evidence agrees with yours. We do seem to be in love.”

The humans went redder and looked at the floor. (I guess I’m not the only one who finds it excruciating to talk about our relationship.)

ART paused again, then said, “We’re not sure what to say. This is all very new to us.”

On our private feed, it said to me, _I think, I love you? I don’t know what that’ll mean, but I guess we’ll work it out?_

I fumbled for words. _I think I love you too._

Seth smiled. “You’ll work it out,” he said. “Welcome aboard, SecUnit. We’re glad to have you.”

I found myself smiling too. I guess they’re right, we’ll work it out. After all, the terraforming supervisor’s second wife’s daughter and her boyfriend did.


End file.
